McKinsey Told Eskom of Transparency Risk at Trillian Capital

McKinsey Told Eskom of Transparency Risk at Trillian Capital

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. continued to pay Trillian Capital Partners Ltd. even after McKinsey & Co. warned the South African state power company that it had concerns over transparency at the project development partner. Letters written in March 2016 by McKinsey to Eric Wood, the chief executive officer of Trillian, and Eskom’s recently suspended chief financial officer, Anoj Singh, show the U.S. consulting firm was concerned about the reputation risk of working…

Read More

Zimbabwe Dollar Dearth Causes Shortages, Return of Inflation

Zimbabwe Dollar Dearth Causes Shortages, Return of Inflation

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwe’s money shortage has seen card and mobile-money payments eclipse cash sales at the nation’s retailers, throttling suppliers’ stock of hard currency needed to put goods on shelves and forcing up food prices. Cash transactions have shrunk to about 2 percent of daily takings across the 33-store Spar Zimbabwe chain, from 60 percent a year ago, Managing Director Terence Yeatman said. Consumer prices as measured by the statistics agency rose 0.1…

Read More

KPMG Hasn’t Fully Cooperated in South African Probe, Regulator Says

KPMG Hasn’t Fully Cooperated in South African Probe, Regulator Says

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s auditing regulator said KPMG LLP’s local unit hasn’t fully cooperated with the body’s investigations into work done for the Gupta family, who are alleged to have used political connections to win state contracts. It took a meeting with KPMG’s leadership team to prompt them to engage with the probe and, even after that, the auditing firm hasn’t released certain documents, Bernard Agulhas, head of the Independent Regulatory Board for…

Read More

Foreigners Desert South Africa’s Stock Market Like Never Before

Foreigners Desert South Africa’s Stock Market Like Never Before

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Amid robust demand for emerging-market equities, there’s one place global investors are avoiding: Africa’s biggest stock market. With almost a full quarter to go, outflows from South Africa’s stock exchange have already reached 90.5 billion rand ($6.6 billion) this year, on track to equal last year’s record 125.8 billion rand. By comparison, net sales reached 56.6 billion rand in 2008, when emerging-market assets bore the brunt of a selloff sparked…

Read More

Uganda Cuts Benchmark Rate to Record Low to Boost Credit

Uganda Cuts Benchmark Rate to Record Low to Boost Credit

KAMPALA (Capital Markets in Africa) Uganda’s central bank reduced its benchmark interest rate to support economic growth even as lending to businesses and individuals begins to show signs of improvement. Policy makers at the Bank of Uganda cut the rate by 50 basis points to 9.5 percent, extending an easing cycle that began in April 2016. Prior to Tuesday’s decision, they’d reduced the rate by a total of 700 basis points in eight of the past nine…

Read More

Anadarko Brings Mozambique Plan Nearer to Fruition With PTT Deal

Anadarko Brings Mozambique Plan Nearer to Fruition With PTT Deal

MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Anadarko Petroleum Corp. moved nearer to greenlighting a natural-gas project in Mozambique as it struck a deal to sell some of the fuel to Thailand’s national energy company. PTT Pcl will buy 2.6 million tons a year of liquefied natural gas under a long-term contract starting in 2023, Chief Operating Officer Wirat Uanarumit said Monday in Bangkok. That’s about a quarter of the amount that must be contracted to bring the project to…

Read More

Northeast Nigeria Recovering From Islamist Violence, Unicef Says

Northeast Nigeria Recovering From Islamist Violence, Unicef Says

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Northeastern Nigeria is beginning to recover from the devastation caused by an almost decade-long Islamist insurgency as famine is averted, more people access aid and children return to school, although huge challenges remain, the United Nations Children’s Fund said. The Boko Haram militant group has claimed more than 20,000 lives in a violent campaign to impose its version of Islamic law on Africa’s biggest oil producer. At least 5.2…

Read More
1 631 632 633 634 635 1,076